Jtwe 24, 1886.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



a . 



431 



rejoiced over his success. But now I must land him. He is 

 pretty well exhausted. And the question is, where shall I 

 attempt this landing? The low hanks are quite steep here 

 and the water runs close to them. Then they are covered 

 •with bushes. I look up the stream and there is nothing 

 encouraging. Not one clear spot but at the foot of the birch 

 near where I am standing. One of its roots dips straight 

 into the water, and on the top of this is a patch of moss 

 some foot and a half square. I decide to make this the 

 landing place. The fish is drawn along gently. He is com- 

 pletely tired out, and just as he reaches the landing I seize 

 the line and lift him on the moss. My hands are on him 

 before he makes his final struggle, and he is killed. 



Now [ have to work my way out to the clearing that 

 have left. The alders here are too thick to penetrate, and I re 

 solve to strike the stream again just a little further down. J 

 do this and the first place I try brings me another good fish 

 The walking here is better too and my clumsy rod is more 

 manageable. Now I am coming to a good hole 1 know. It 

 is beneath a spreading ash and large laurel bush above it to 

 screen me, and a chance to strike up stream without getting 

 my line caught. My plans are soon made and I toss in. The 

 hook scarcely reaches the place for which I intended it be- 

 fore I have a rise. 1 throw again and again I feel a tug, 

 This time I am sure. No I am not. My line comes back to 

 me and my leader is gone. It is but the work of a moment 

 to put on a new leader and hook. They are all in my book 

 dampened and ready for immediate use. But no more bites 

 nor rises. I am quite through the alders and the sun has 

 just come out. Thirteen trout are the result of the expedi- 

 tion and I hope after the bites and scratches are well for 

 some better health. I cannot say that I will ever try the 

 alders again. This time I think will suffice. Let younger 

 men go there, though I am Stillaboy. 



QUEBEC FISHERY LAWS. 



FROM an official publication by the Department of Crown 

 Lands, we extract the following relating to the fishery 

 laws: The Confederation Act gave the Dominion Parliament 

 power to pass laws for the regulation and protection of in- 

 land as well as other fisheries. The owners of land border- 

 ing on any non navigable river or lake, po-sesses the exclu- 

 sive right to fish for salmon, trout, or any other fish in the 

 waters in the front of his land, and may exercise that right 

 or transfer it to another. The right of fishing in water in 

 public, ungranted lands belongs to the Province, represented 

 by the local government, by which it may be disposed or 

 leased to private parties; and any person who fishes in such 

 waters without authority to do so, may be prosecuted for 

 trespass. All fishing, whether in private or public waters, 

 must be done in accordance with the fishery law and regula- 

 tions. 



Salmon may be killed with rod, reel and fly only, from 

 April 13 to August 31, but foul or unclean salmon shall not 

 be killed at any time. No salmon or grilse of less weight 

 shall be killed. Nets shall only be used ia tidal waters. 

 The minister, or any fishery officer, shall have power to 

 define the tidal boundary of estuary fishing, and above the 

 limit so laid down it is unlawful to fish for salmon except 

 with rod and line, in the manner known as fly surface fish- 

 ing. Except in the manner named, salmon shall not be 

 fished for or killed by any artificial pass or salmon leap, nor 

 in any pool where salmon spawn. 



It is unlawful to fish for or catch any kind of trout (or 

 " lunge") in any way whatever between the 1st of October 

 and the 1st of January, and at no other time except by hook 

 and line, in any inland lake, river or stream except in tidal 

 waters. Whitefish shall not be taken in any manner be- 

 tween Nov 19 and Dec 1, nor by means of any kind of 

 seine between July 31 and Dec. 1. 



Close seasons for bass, pike, pickerel (doret), maskinonge 

 and other fish may be fixed by the Governor in Council to 

 suit different localities. By the Federal regulations no per- 

 son shall take these fish between April 15 and May 15. 



It is obligatory upon any prison who has no domicile in 

 the Province of Quebec, and who desires to fish in the salmon 

 livers under control of the Province, to procure a permit or 

 license to that effect from the Commissioner of Crown Lands 

 before beginning to fish. Such license shall be granted upon 

 the payment of a fee of $10, and shall be valid until the 

 close of the angling season of the year in which it is granted. 



MINNESOTA TROUT STREAMS. 



THE stranger taking in the surroundings of Duluth is 

 continually crossing creeks that anywhere east of Ohio 

 or north of the Lake Shore Railroad would be said to contain 

 trout. Anglers coming from Northern New York are sur- 

 prised and puzzled; Pennsylvanians are hard to convince, 

 while Michiganders say they are the troutiest-looking creeks 

 I've seen in many a long day. Wny have they no trout in 

 them? Yet they are devoid of such specimens as the soul of 

 the angler delights in. Once in a while after the spring 

 rains we quietly take a trip to one or two of them and bring 

 home a few trout caught with the plebian worm. In vain 

 the angier lays out fly after fly. They are not fly-hungry. 

 The worm, larvas and other grubs coming down streams in 

 these warm freshets, fill these fresh-run trout until they are 

 too lazy for anything and won't rise at a fly. Nothing 

 draws them but a minnow. Thus far we have not stooped; 

 it is necessary to draw the line somewhere. We prefer to 

 draw it on minnows. If stooping is to conquer, we have 

 thus far come away vanquished. A worm is low enough, 

 yet we saw some trout weighing close to two pounds taken 

 from a river I have before described in columns of Forest 

 and Stream; worms were not enticing to their palate; a 

 fly skittered over them in vain, but the moment a minnow 

 was pitched into the pool they all wanted it, and metaphor- 

 ically were tumbling over one another in their anxiety to 

 get on to that hook. What could an angler do but turn 

 green with envy, shut his eyes to keep from longing for a 

 string of trout, twenty of them, not one less than a pound 

 and all caught with minnows, and yanked out with a 16- 

 foot bamboo pole If inches diameter at the butt. Can you 

 blame any one for railing at such fate when not a trout, not 

 even a nib', came to our hooks'? I think our old Nestor, 

 "JMessmuk." is 0. K. The end justifies the means, and if 

 trout won't come when you call them, tickle them with 

 something else that they will bit#. 



Yet who is so gullible, so ready to jump at anything that 

 smacks of trout as the simon pure trout angler. Let him 

 hear of a creek, stream, or even a swamp through which a 

 stream runs that contains trout, and he's off fishing. Reason 

 stands no show with him ■ he has been bitten before and 

 vowed all men are liars, especially trout liars, the biggest of 

 all liars; but the empty creel reminds him of bygone days, 



the reel giving out its slow click c-l-i-c-k as the line is care- 

 fully run through the fingers, the beautiful and neatly made 

 flies so carefully arranged, and all of them the work of a 

 woman's deft fingers. Appeal to the finer feeling of our 

 semi-barbarous nature, and the hardness, the stern, unbending 

 qualities, yes, the mistrustful yields, and under the fascina- 

 tion of the sweeping lithe wand that has cast out flies over 

 many streams, we determine to go a-fishing. The shepherd 

 king took back the wrathful saying "All men are liars," so 

 we are inclined to kick ourselves and say some men are to be 

 trusted, so we lay our plans for a fishing trip. 



Often when laying out surveys for additions to this pushing 

 young city of the Northwest, we come to a creek full of 

 music, boiling, tumbling waters, riffs, rapids, cascades, falls, 

 follow in rapid succession, some five feet high, some forty 

 feet; io two miles they fall 200 feet, and over a granitic 

 formation, and cold sparkling waters, though tinged with 

 brown. We asked, "Have trout been caught in this creek?" 

 "Yas, good while ago; used to ketch 'um when we fust kim 

 here, but a'int sen any lately." 



One day a friend came into the office full of news. " T., 

 we have just found a new trout stream along the Herman- 

 town pike." A few days later a buggy rattled out of town 

 containing a Board of Trade man and the writer; struck 

 into the road toward this creek said to be full of trout. The 

 road was reported as good, but our horse sunk fetlock deep 

 and the wheels almost to the hub. We reached the stream, 

 and found it running through a swamp, but of cold water. 

 A small bridge crosses the road, and from this looking 

 down we saw forms of fishes on the rocky bottom, but what 

 were they ? A few minutes later we took the horse from 

 the buggy, tied him up in the " brush," and put our fishing 

 tackle in order. I dropped in a baited hook, and saw my 

 worm going off at a great pace. I yanked, but struck air. 

 My friend was watching, and instantly put in his bait, and 

 as quickly struck, and ejaculated, " Why the creek is full of 

 little cusses! What are they?" Our spirits jumped to boil- 

 ing poiut, trout galore, visions of a full creel" rose before us. 

 He put in on the'other side of the bridge, and while watch- 

 ing his line I struck a little wretch as long as my forefinger 

 My spirits tumbled to zero. I quietly took it off, dropped 

 it into the creek again, and pushed into the brush without 

 saying a word. The foliage was wet with the droppings 

 from a pelting thunderstorm, and I was wet through in five 

 minutes, but pushed on, finding fish all the time, and all of 

 the same kind. My friend followed me for some minutes, 

 until I hsard him saying, " Why T., these are little chubs. 

 The little brutes!" And we had come seven miles to in- 

 dulge in a little chub fish, and for chubs not more than four 

 inches long. Well! if that is'nt cheap. I knew all the 

 time, but was hugging myself with the idea he was not get- 

 ting any bites, and was hoping against hope that one soli- 

 tary trout would turn up to reward him, but nary trout! 

 He took the fact as cool as a philosopher and said, "Never 

 mind. We'll get our fun when we go out to Lester River 

 one of these days." 



He who indulges in fishing for a pastime gets used to dis- 

 appointment; but the chub fishing has an element of fun in 

 it. Some young men hearing that we had been to Drowsky's 

 creeks, thought they could find trout in it, and hired a busgy 

 team on Suuday morning, hied out and began fishing, they 

 caught about fifty chubs. Somehow it leaked out that the 

 chub cost them about $3, and we enjoyed the laugh. 



A recent visit to Lester River gave us a sight worth re- 

 membering. The river was full of "red horse," or red fin 

 suckers, as some call them. The ebb and flow of this river 

 often left the fish almost stranded on the boulder bottom. 1 

 waded in hoping to get some trout and could not raise a 

 single one. I saw one, and though I fished well-known pools 

 carefully I failed in getting a bite. These red fin suckers 

 surged up and down stream in thousands, even running 

 between my legs when wading. Brule River and other south 

 shore streams are full of trout, one thousand fish were brought 

 to Duluth by one party on a recent Sunday, from Brule 

 River. W. David Tohlin. 



Duluth, Minn. 



SALMON FISHING. 



T WANT to write you something about the salmon aud 

 JL trout fishing on the Miramichie River in comparison 

 with fishing in the Western lakes and rivers. Notwithstand- 

 ing the supply of fish in these last named waters is abundant 

 and very valuable as a source of food to those living there, 

 the real sport in catching the fish fail altogether when com- 

 pared with the pleasure one experiences in landing the 

 salmon and trout on the Miramichi River, New Brunswick. 

 There are many different kinds of fish in the western waters, 

 but those which are the most eagerly sought after and which 

 are said to yield the greatest sport in catching are bass and 

 pickerel. The whole apparatus used in taking these fish is 

 of the clumsiest pattern, and the entire operation is much 

 more like work than it is like sport or pleasure. Great heavy 

 fines from two to three hundred feet in length, baited with 

 such things as live frogs, minnows, spoon hooks or artificial 

 minnows are dragged behind boats which are rowed at a pretty 

 rapid rate to keep the bait from sinking to the bottom. The 

 lines are held firmly in the hand till the weight of the fish on 

 the hook apprizes the fisherman that it is time to pull in and 

 then it is a steady drag, hand over hand, till the pickerel or 

 bass, whichever of the two it may be, is pulled into the boat. 



This sort of fishing is not by any means so enjoyable as 

 one experiences while fishing for salmon or trout on the 

 Miramichi River, in the beautiful pools of pure cool water 

 for which this river is famous and which is the resort of 

 these fish. Rods artistically made of the most elastic wood, 

 with tips as fine as an ordinary knitting-needle, and fine light 

 oiled silk lines, to which are attached the most delicate- 

 looking casting lines and artificial flies made with the great- 

 est care aud neatness, are all absolutely necessary for salmon 

 or trout fishing on the Miramichi. After the sportsman has 

 secured all these, a great deal of skill is required in their 

 use: To know how to cast the line the greatest distance so 

 that the fly will fall lightly upon the water, scarcely break- 

 ing its surface, to hook the fish when he rises to the fly, to 

 hold the rod just at the proper angle, to give line and to reel 

 in the same when necessary, and, in short, the whole busi- 

 ness, from beginniug to end, is a very exciting sport, and re- 

 quires no small degree of skill. 



Nothing is more exciting to the sportsman than to hear the 

 whirr of his reel as his line runs out with a fifteen or twenty 

 pound salmon on his hook. Every motion of the fish has 

 to be carefully watched. Sometimes a salmon when hooked 

 will run out almost the entire length of the line without 

 stopping; sometimes he will turn quickly and run almost 

 back to the place where he first was hooked ; again he will 

 run down river, sometimes up, and often will jump four or 

 five feet clear out of the water, showing his magnificent pro^ 



portions and silvery-clad sides. Everything is very exciting 

 and each movement of the fish must be carefully watched 

 until finally, wearied out in vain endeavors to escape, he 

 relinquishes further efforts and allows himself to be landed 

 upon the shore. Any one having once experienced the 

 pleasure of hooking and landing a salmon will never forget 

 it. And when you have once landed a salmon you have 

 something worth while being proud of, for he is surely the 

 king of fishes and the most delicately flavored of all the 

 entire catalogue of the finny tribe. And then again the 

 scenery is so much finer and the air so much fresher and 

 purer among the mountains and valleys on the Miramichi 

 than on the low plains of the west. 



On the smaller tributaries of the Miramichi, as we ascend 

 the stream, above Borestown, there are some very beautiful 

 natural falls, among which I might mention the cascade at 

 Fall Brook, which is only a short distance above Borestown 

 and only a few rods from the river. The waterfall is over a 

 wall of rock more than one hundred feet high. About half 

 way down the declivity the water strikes against a project- 

 ing rock and is dashed out in fine white spray, making it de- 

 lightfully cool for quite a distance from where it strikes, no 

 matter how warm the day may be elsewhere. On the op- 

 posite side of the river a short distance from Fall Brook we 

 came upon Trout Brook with its very pretty double water- 

 falls, and continuing further up the stream we find many 

 objects of interest. The woods of spruce and fir which skirt 

 the banks of the stream in many places, impart health giving 

 odors and afford ample shade from the sun'in hot weather. 



At the present rate of rapid transit I am inclined to believe 

 the entire distance from New York to Borestown, N. B., 

 can be gone over in about thirty -six or forty hour*, and from 

 Boston, Mass., in a much less time, and I cannot imagine 

 how any more agreeable or pleasant time can be spent" by 

 gentlemen from these or other cities of the United States 

 during the hot season than by spending a few weeks on the 

 Miramichi River, salmon and trout fishing. The fishing 

 begins in June and continues through July, August, and 

 September, thus giving ample time for men of business to so 

 arrange matters as best to suit them for an interval of 

 pleasure. D. McMillakd. 



AN OUTING FOR LAND-LOCKED SALMON 



THE 6th of May finds Tom and I trolling for land locked 

 salmon in Sebago Lake, Maine. As we run across 

 from the mouth of Songo River to Muddy River, I will take 

 Tom, whose slow, steady stroke is the motive by which our 

 Rangeley is propelled, closely watches his fourteen-ounce 

 Bethabara bait rod, which lies conveniently at his side, the 

 reel dropping below the edge of the thwart on which it rests, 

 thus securing it against any sudden pull overboard in case of 

 a strike; his reel, a center multiplier, holds in reserve about 

 ten yards of line, the balance, fifty yards, being out. 



I have set up my eight ounce "split" since leaving shore, 

 and having secured my leader, a double one with two 

 swivels, and added a light sinker, I am now engaged in 

 putting on a smelt for bait, and a delicate operation it is for 

 a novice. A 5-0 Aberdeen hook is to be started down the 

 smelt's throat, and worked downward to come out just in 

 front of the anal fin without having -"hooked up" any of 

 the side tissues. After oue or two attempts this is accom- 

 plished, and taking hold of my line above the leader [ drop 

 the bait carefully overboard to note how it runs; it takes 

 but a glance to see that it is a "spinner," which is quickly 

 remedied by inserting the point of my penknife where the 

 hook comes out of the smelt, and cutting toward the head 

 in a straight line for a half an inch, thus allowing the bend 

 of the hook to be outside of the bait. 



I am now certain that it will run true and straight, but 

 before I can drop it overboard again Tom's reel makes a 

 loud call for attention and the instant he grasps the rod a 

 splash is heard astern and a silver side shows for an instant 

 and disappears. Tom and I change places and I glance at 

 my watch, it is a quarter of eight, the fight promises to be a 

 long one. His salmonship first tries a straightaway run, and 

 finding himself checked makes a fine leap fully two feet out 

 of water. "An eight pounder if an ounce," I exclaim. "Shall 

 go you one better," says Tom, as he takes up line rapidly, 

 for this time it is a run for the boat and I am obliged to take 

 three or four strokes to keep the line taut. Finding himself 

 again balked, the fish makes one more grand, angry leap and 

 starts for the bottom with a suddenness that submerges the 

 rod to its second joint, and somewhere about fifty feet below 

 us he sulks, refusing to take or give line. 



This continues for nearly half an hour, varied occasionally 

 by a Itttle shaking or yanking as Tom sends "a telephone 

 over the line" as he calls it when he taps the rod with his 

 fingers. But a change is taking place and slowly, very 

 slowly, Tom reels in ; the rod bends till its tip nearly touches 

 the lake; but gradually the fish is giviug in and a minute 

 later, looking down through the calm, clear water, I can see 

 first a broad tail appearing, then the whole fair outline of 

 the salmon as he rests on his side, ten feet below U3 for an 

 instant, and only that, for now ensues a series of maneuvers 

 that tax Tom's skill, cool angler though he is, to the utmost, 

 now calling for fifty feet to the right'of us, now twenty feet 

 more to the left, with a flying leap into the air and a dash 

 toward the boat, a repetition of the same till nine leaps had 

 been counted, and now he begins to circle slowly around 

 near the surface, showing occasionally his side, and as I 

 hold the landing net a little below the surface Tom leads 

 the fish gently over it, then dropping his tip slightly, the 

 salmon buries himself head first into its welcoming meshes 

 and the "meat is ours." The watch says, eight minutes of 

 nine; the scales says, just ten pounds; the tape measure 

 says, twenty-seven inches long and seven inches deep; we 

 say, the fairest of ten thousand. Two hours later I kill a 

 six pounder and with it ends our luck for the day. 



Black Spot. 



Sebago Lake, June 7, 1886. 



Vermont Trout Fishing. — Philadelphia, June 8.— Have 

 just returned from a vacation to my old home in Rutland 

 county, Vt. Found trout fishing good, filling basket with 

 good-sized ones on several occasions. One was caught (not 

 by writer) weighing 2 pounds 10 ounces, dressed, and one 

 weighing 2 pounds 8 ounces. Fishing in Bomoseen not 

 yet open of course. Plenty of pickerel were caught through 

 the ice last winter, the largest weighing 19f pounds. One 

 mess of eleven weighed 107~pounds. If laws can be enforced 

 against the nets and spears in spawning time there would be 

 more of the fish; and as it is, large hauls are made in season 

 with line. The landlocked salmon have not been heard from, 

 but the "Swago" bass aud pickerel make good sport for 

 spoon or live-bait fishing. — Neshobee. 



